Day 19--Funchal, Madeira

FUNCHAL

        We are back once again to Funchal on the Portuguese island of Madeira.  I put background info about here on my March 31st (day 11) posting in case you want to review it.  You can look on right hand side of blog to find "Blog Archive".  Then click on "March" to find those posts.

        The ship's map on tv system is still not working, and in fact, now we have no satellite tv at all.  A lot of things going wrong on board now.

Last Night:

        The "block party" and production show were cancelled do to the rough seas.  Early this morning it did smooth out but probably because we were protected from the swells by the island as we approached.  Anyway, we had cocktails in the Mariner Lounge prior to dinner in the Compass Rose restaurant.  After dinner we all retired for the evening.  Yesterday afternoon I left a note with Reception for Jim & Barbara Edmunsen.  They live about 6 houses down the block from us in Dalton Ranch (Durango).  Jim is also a retired American Airlines captain.  Have not seen them around on the ship yet.

Today:

        Up at 7:45 as I had an 8:30 tour, "Monte Village & Botanical Gardens".  Room service for Rebecca as she was not leaving the ship again today.  I went down to the Coffee Connection for a donut and cup of coffee.  Jane met me there and off we went on tour.  I almost decided not to go on tour today as it was overcast and some rain in the area.  But I went!!  Glad I did too!

        Hopped on the bus #6 for short trip to the cable car station.  Up we went in cable car for 7 minute ride up the hill to the village of Monte.  Here we saw a small church then rode a toboggan part way down the hill (1 1/4 mile ride).  You will have to view photos of this adventure.  They have been using these toboggans for over a hundred years and even before it became a tourist attraction.  Back on the bus for ride to the botanical gardens.  As you will see in the photos, the gardens were very beautiful.  Even I enjoyed walking through them.  Last stop was at a small embroidery shop to taste some Madeira wine.  Taste was VERY small indeed.  Got back to the ship at 1:30 pm so headed up to pool deck for a sandwich.

        It is 3:30 now and I am working on the blog.  Should finish in about 15 minutes.  We sail at 4:30 and will be at sea the next five days.  The sun is out now and it is upper 60's so quite pleasant this afternoon.  Just prior to sailing Captain Serena will tell us how the weather will be tonight.  Hopefully much better than yesterday.

        Drinks in Mariner Lounge after the block party (doing it tonight instead of last evening) for drinks.  The three of us have 7:00 pm reservations to dine in Chartreuse, the French specialty restaurant.  Rebecca and I do not care for French food or their wines but decided to give it a try.  Not sure if we will be going to the show after dinner.  The headliner entertainer is Antonio Salci, a pianist.  I am not big on listening to piano players.  Move clocks back again tonight so gain another hour of sleep.

        Here is the link to my photos there are 77 of them today.  Second link is a bonus for you.  They are photos that I took last year when on our world cruise.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/cqnKyNM42ftNUfDh1

https://goo.gl/photos/gCGge6tvp5eSnQkv8

Day 18--At Sea (Rocking & Rolling)

        The ship's position map that is normally on channel 3 on the tv system is not working.  It shows us still in Barcelona.  Yesterday as we were going ashore for our cruise, I asked Captain Serena about it.  She said it was not working but they were trying to fix it.  Not fixed yet.
       At noon the Captain said we were about half way from Malaga to Funchal.  Last night and today we are experiencing some 16 foot swells and wave heights of 6 feet.  As a result of this and the wind of 25 gusting to 35 knots, the ship is rocking and rolling.  It is not easy to move about the ship
comfortably today and will remain this way until docking in Funchal tomorrow.  Outside it is partly sunny and 60F with some passing rain showers.

Last Night:
        We went up to the Observation Lounge for pre-dinner cocktails but did not stay long as the resident pianist, Nick Messina, was playing too loudly so we could not hear each other talk.  During our dinner with Lorraine, our cruise director, I mentioned this to her.  She said there was new system on the ship which would not let her adjust the speakers as they have in the past.  She promised she would work on it.
        So we went down to the Mariner Lounge to finish cocktail hour.  At 7:00 the three of us met Lorraine and and another couple for dinner in Compass Rose.  It was a great group for dinner and we had a wonderful time.  Lorraine excused herself at 9:00 as she likes to greet passengers as they enter the theater for the shows.  After dessert we also went to see the show which featured the magician/mentalist I mentioned in yesterday's posting.  He was ok but probably will not see his second show later on.

Today:
        We moved out clocks back an hour last night so got some extra sleep.  I had ordered room service breakfast for Rebecca but I dressed and went down to the Coffee Connection again for my coffee and a bran muffin.  I took a few more photos of the ship's new interior after that.  Despite the ship's movement, we both went down to the gym and did our workouts.  After showering we had some lunch up in La Veranda.  It is on deck 11 and you could feel the ship's movement more pronounced up there.  I'm telling you for the best ride book your cabin/suite on the lowest deck and midship.
        This afternoon I am working on this posting and photos.  I need to put the photos in my computer in folders to be better organized.  I am also working on a photo album showing what the "new" Mariner looks like.  I promised to add it on the RSSC Social Club FaceBook page.  You are seeing all these photos on my blog postings already however.  We have some neighbors of ours from Dalton Ranch on board now so left them a message so maybe we can have cocktails.
        This evening at 6:00 pm is the "block party".  As I mentioned last cruise, this is something only Regent does.  A bell is rung over PA from the bridge and everyone who wants to comes out in the hallway with their wine glasses and the stewardesses serve wine and cheese while we meet our fellow passenger neighbors.  Not sure if we will be doing it since it's pretty rough sailing now.
        We may just go down to the Mariner Lounge for our pre-dinner cocktails.  The three of us are planning dinner in Compass Rose.  Following dinner is the first production show, "Tuxedo" presented by the ship's production cast.  This is their first cruise working together so will be interesting to see how they do.
        We will be arriving at 8:00 am tomorrow in the port for Funchal on the Portuguese island of Madeira.  We also stopped here on the first cruise on way to Barcelona on Explorer, as you will recall.  So here is the link to the new photos for you from last night and today.  See yesterday's post for instructions on how to open and use the link, if you need.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/UDeA8zkOXVPGatUC2

Day 17--Malaga, Spain

MALAGA (SECOND VISIT)

Last Night:

        We had a drink with Jane in the Mariner Lounge before our dinner in Prime 7 with Jason Montague, the President of Regent Seven Seas Cruises.  Jane had dinner with Caron, the social hostess, and a few other singles on this cruise.  Our dinner with Jason was at 7:30 and there were two other couples at the table.  One couple we had cruised and dined with on a previous cruise.  They are from North Carolina and very delightful. The other couple was from Europe.  Also lovely people.  It was an evening full of conversation and great food, of course.  I asked Jason if the 2021 world cruise would be going around Africa.  We did that in 2010 and want to do it again.  The 2019 and 2020 world cruises are going through the Suez Canal so I figured the 2021 WC would be going around Africa.  Unfortunately, he said no, it also would be going through the Suez because the ship (Mariner) would have to end the world cruise in Europe as it would be due another "face lift".  Apparently, this happens every three years.  So I told him that I guess we would have to do our world cruise on a Viking Ocean ship.  He did not laugh!  We excused ourselves before dessert was to be served as we wanted to see the show in theater.  It had just started.  Jason said he did not mind us going.  After the show was over we got a photo taken with him.  He left the Mariner today and is flying down to Cape Town, South Africa, to join the Navigator doing the world cruise this year.  It was a great honor to be invited to dine and spend some of his valuable time with him.   

        The show featured Lovena B Fox, a very talented headliner singer.  We loved her voice and show. Looking forward to her second show in a few days.

Today:

        Remember we stopped here on April 2nd on our way over to Barcelona on the Explorer.  We had a very smooth night of sailing and arrived here as the sun was rising.  Alarm went off at 7:45 for Rebecca's 8:00 room service.  I just showered and got ready for my tour which was scheduled to depart at 8:40.  I went down to the Coffee Connection for a coffee and donut prior to that and met Jane there.  Jane and I went on tour again as Rebecca stayed to go to gym again.  The morning started out cloudy with some sprinkles but improved as the day went on.  Last time I did a walking tour of old part of town and a Flamenco show as you recall from that blog.  This tour, "Malaga City", was a bus tour through city to visit the Bullring, Gibralfaro Castle/Fortress, a walking tour in city, and finally a tasting of Malaga wine.  Once again my photo captions will tell you more about what we saw.  Fortunately, again we had a really knowledgeable guide, Colola.  She was very thorough.  I now know more about bull fighting and what goes on.

        We returned to the ship about 1:30pm and went up for some late lunch in La Veranda.  Ever since I have been working on this blog post.  I should have it finished by 4:45.  A suite steward came in a while ago and got cushions in from the balcony.  He said the Captain is expecting some bad weather tonight.  YUK!

        We sail at 5:00 and will have a sea day tomorrow enroute back to Funchal.  Tonight at 6:00 is the Captain's Welcome Reception in the theater.  Cocktails and she will introduce the senior officers.  Not sure we will attend.  But the three us of are invited to dine in Compass Rose with our Cruise Director, Lorraine Weimerskirch.  We have sailed with her a couple times previously.  Dinner will be at 7:00.

        The show tonight at 9:30 is another headliner entertainer, Joe Enock.  It says he is a magician and mentalist.  Jane dined with him and others at the singles table last night.  Will try to go see him but not on front row as we did last night.  May want to make an early exit if we don't care for him.

        So another great day in Malaga.  Love Spain!  Here is the link to today's photos.  Cut and paste the link to another browser to open.  Click on the first photo to enlarge it and then you will see my captions on the right side.  Arrow through rest of the photos.  There are several!!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/c3LxZSAwIzt1JR562

Day 16--Cartagena, Spain

CARTAGENA

         As you can see, Cartagena is a port city and major naval base on the southeast side of Spain.  The metropolitan population here is over 400,000.  It was founded in 227BC by the Carthaginians and it is surrounded by five hills.  The Romans conquered the city later in the century.  In the 13th century Conception Castle was built on one of the hills.  It was never finished and partially demolished in the early 1800's.  It was made a city park in the 1920's.  My tour today will take us up to the castle.

Last Night:

        The three of us had cocktails at 6:00 in the Horizon Lounge before heading to Prime 7 for dinner.  The specialty restaurants here on Mariner are not nearly as large as they were on Explorer.  Service last night was a little slow but food excellent.  There was not really any entertainment in the theater last night so we retired.

Today:

        Alarm went off at 8:15 as we had room service breakfast scheduled for 8:30 this morning.  They are always right on time!  We arrived at the dock in Cartagena a little ahead of schedule at 10:00 am.  The Mediterranean was very smooth last night and we awoke to a absolutely beautiful, sunny day.  My tour today was "Highlights of Cartagena" and left the ship at 11:20.  Rebecca did not go as preferred to go the the gym instead.  Jane did go with me however.  I thought we had been to this port on a previous cruise, but no, this was a new one for us.  Guess I was thinking Cartagena, Columbia.  Sydney and Steve, from Houston and was on our Explorer cruise also, was on the tour bus with Jane and I.  Our guide, Delia, was very thorough and knowledgeable.  I will let the captions on my photos tell you about what we saw.  I will say that once again the city was very clean and the sidewalks were all marble and well kept.  Spanish cities are some of the best in Europe in my opinion.  Mariner is docked right next to the old, historical part of downtown Cartagena so you can easily walk from the ship into town.  I am very impressed with this port of call.  

        I returned to the ship at 3:00 pm as did not do the half hour of free time in city which was last part of our tour.  Jane did stay in town.  I went up to the Pool Grill and grabbed a hot dog for a late lunch then went back to the suite to work on this blog.  It is now 5:00 pm and about to post it.

        This evening we are meeting Jane for cocktails hour down in the Mariner Lounge prior to dinner.  Rebecca and I have been invited to dine with Mr Montague, President of Regent Cruises, in Prime 7 at 7:30.  Jane will be on her own tonight.  We would like to go to hear the headliner entertainer, Lovena Fox, in the theater at 9:30 if we are finished with our Prime 7 dinner.

        The ship is sailing at 6:30 this evening and will be docked in Malaga tomorrow morning.  Jane and I will be going on another tour then.

        Here is the link to the photos I have taken the last two days.  Once again, cut and paste the link to another browser to open it.  Then click on the first photo in order to enlarge it and show my captions on the right hand side.  Arrow through the rest of the photos.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Y2cNpOXj3B61SJdI3

Day 15--Barcelona

Today:
        We docked in Barcelona before 7:00 this morning.  We had room service breakfast then finished packing our roll aboards and waited in atrium to disembark the Explorer at 9:00 am.  Once in the terminal we had a porter get our luggage and a port agent escorted us out to our limo.  The Mariner was docked at another terminal across bridge in the port.  It only took us a 4 minute drive to get there.
        We were about the first ones to arrive this morning.  Went through security check then had to sit in the terminal until noon when they started checking people in and boarding.  While waiting Jason Montague, the President of Regent Cruises, walked by and said hi to us.  We have met him several times.  He told us we would be dining with him tomorrow evening in Prime 7.  He is just on the ship for 2 days and will leave in Malaga.  Our Dallas friend, Jane VanHarlingen, flew to Barcelona a few days ago and has been touring in the city.  She arrived at the terminal just prior to boarding at noon so we took her with us through the check in process.
        Initially the check in process was a little chaotic.  You always have to fill out a health form saying you are not sick but they did not have them available.  They finally just let us check in.  Because of our Titanium status, our suite was ready to go directly to when we got on the ship.  Others had to wait until 2:30 pm before their suites were ready to occupy.
        Sure enough there was an invitation to dine with Mr Montague tomorrow evening.  WOW!  That is very special.  I have a few questions for him!
         We are basically unpacked now.  Lifeboat drill is just completed and took almost an hour.  This compares to the 20 minute drill on Explorer.  It's now 5:15pm and about to depart.  Tomorrow morning we will be docked in Cartagena, Spain.
        Busy day and now it is time to get ready for cocktail hour.  The three of us will be dining this evening in Prime 7 (steakhouse).  I did take a few photos of the Mariner today but no time to put them on today's link.  I must say she is lovely after the major refurbishment in France the past couple of weeks.  Stay tuned for more tomorrow.

ITINERARY FOR SECOND OF TRANSATLANTICS ON RSSC MARINER

ITINERARY FOR MARINER

Wed    Apr 4----Barcelona, Spain
Thurs  Apr 5----Cartagena, Spain
Fri       Apr 6----Malaga, Spain
Sat       Apr 7----At Sea
Sun      Apr 8----Funchal, Madeira (Portugal)
Mon    Apr 9----At Sea
Tues    Apr 10---At Sea
Wed    Apr 11---At Sea
Thurs   Apr 12---At Sea
Fri       Apr 13---At Sea
Sat       Apr 14---Hamilton, Bermuda
Sun      Apr 15---Hamilton, Bermuda
Mon     Apr 16---At Sea
Tues     Apr 17---At Sea
Wed     Apr 18---Miami

Day 14--Search & Rescue

Man Overboard:
        At 3:30 am this morning our Captain came on the PA system in all suites to inform us that a person had fallen overboard on ANOTHER ship, not ours, and we were taking part in the search and rescue mission along with 7 other ships and two helicopters from land.  I do not know for sure which ship lost a passenger (or it could be a crew member) but I suspect it was from NCL Spirit which has been in a couple ports with us.  The reason I suspect that ship is they had some of their tenders in the water searching also.
        The Captain again come over PA at 8:30 am to update us and said our stop in Alicante, Spain, had been cancelled due to the search.  So remained searching the area until about 10:30.  Once again our Captain came on PA to say that we were departing the search and heading to Barcelona.  We had to leave in order to arrive at Barcelona on schedule tomorrow morning.  It is the end of this cruise and many passengers have to catch flights home plus others are waiting to board for the next cruise.  The Captain said a person in the ocean here would probably only be conscious due to the water temperature for around 2 hours and really no hope of living after 6 hours.  We searched for 8 hours before departing the area.  Others are continuing the search however.
       We experienced another incident like this several years ago on a Princess cruises ship after departing Aruba for Miami.  A crew member jumped over board in the middle of the night.  We spent all night and all the next day searching but did not find him either.  It's like looking for a needle in a haystack out here in the ocean.  Below is photo of the NCL Spirit in search and rescue also.

Last Night:
        We fixed a cocktail in our suite then headed down to the theater to see the crew's show for us, "Krew Kapers".  On Regent the crew always puts on a show for the passengers as part of the Captain's Farewell dinner.  The show was really pretty good.  They put their hearts into it for sure and is really appreciated by all us passengers.  After the show we had another cocktail in the Meridian Lounge prior to going for dinner in Compass Rose restaurant.  As I mentioned yesterday, beef Wellington is one of our favorites so here a photo of mine.  It was yummy!!

        After a fabulous dinner, we headed to the theater to see the production show, "The Revolution".  Music from Beetles and other groups from mainly England.  Very good show once again.

Today:
        Well, no tour for sure today since it has changed into another day at sea.  We still have not seen Alicante!!  So we both went to the gym for some exercise.  After showering we started the packing process.  By 12:30 we were mostly finished and looks like everything will fit back into our bags.  We are to sit them outside in hallway before 11:00 pm so they can collect and get them ready to leave ship too.  Normally customs will not let anyone off the ship until all bags are off.  We are not in any hurry to leave the ship as we will just have to wait until probably noon to board the Mariner.  This ship wants everyone off the ship by 9:00 am so they can get it ready for next group of passengers.  So our private car transfer is set up for 9:00.  The other cruise terminal is not very far away.
        No photo link today.  Just the two pics above.  Well, not much going on tonight.  They will be replaying the NCAA final basketball game in the theater tonight  I could care less about that.  We will be having cocktails in the Meridian Lounge as usual before dinner.  Dining in Compass Rose as I have asked the chef to make miso sea bass for our entree tonight.  It is definitely one of our favorites and not found in any stateside restaurants.  In fact I asked for a double order.  OINK!  We call the last night's dinner on a cruise, "The Last Supper".  After dinner we will be making the rounds in dining room and lounges to say good bye to our crew member friends and passenger friends.  Kind of a sad night for us.

Status of Blog:
        This blog does not end today.  No, we have another 14 nights on the next cruise so stay tuned.  The Mariner has just come out of a huge 20 day refurbishment in dry dock.  Lots of big changes to the common areas that we will be the first passengers to see.  I will be posting several photos of the newly revamped Mariner.  We are scheduled to depart Barcelona tomorrow evening at 5:00pm for our cruise back to Miami.